BCEFW Introduces a New Sustainability-Focused Category

The Budapest Central European Fashion Week (BCEFW), organised by the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency (HFDA), is taking further steps to incentivise more conscious operations. A new category, promoting environmentally-friendly practices will debut at the 14^th Budapest Central European Fashion Week, and a textile collection container will be placed at the event’s venue, Millenáris, during the weekend shows between the 31^st of August and the 1^st of September 2024.

In the BCEFW SS25 season, in addition to regional cooperation and fostering a new generation of talent, environmental consciousness will be more emphasised than ever. The Conscious Fashion Initiative, featured on the Budapest Central European Fashion Week website, is a framework presenting the HFDA’s credo related to sustainable practices along six pillars, aiming to inspire BCEFW partners and participating local and regional brands to develop a more conscious business model.

The Conscious by BCEFW category was preceded by establishing the Conscious Fashion Initiative criteria. In the initiative, six principles were defined, focusing on switching to an environmentally conscious and ethical operation and a circular economy model: the principles of diversity and equality, the principle of sustainable design supporting recycled material use, safe working conditions, customer involvement, and transparency and education which highlight the importance of social and environmental responsibility. The objective of the criteria system is to encourage and guide partners and local and regional brands participating in BCEFW towards a more conscious future.

Sustainability is a dynamically evolving field, both from the perspective of technology and the regulatory environment. At the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency, we strive to find solutions with industry players to gradually implement European Union Sustainability Directives. The BCEFW Conscious Fashion Initiative framework and the new category provide an opportunity to facilitate professional dialogue on the subject, and, at the same time, we want to acknowledge and motivate brands already leading the way in adopting more sustainable business practices. The transition to a more sustainable life has a lot of potential to create new workplaces and industries in the future. All these efforts will help us to further strengthen our central role in the creative industries in the region – highlighted Zsófia Jakab, Ministerial Commissioner for Creative Industry Development and Sector Coordination and CEO of the HFDA.

BCEFW’s newest category, Conscious by BCEFW, fits the Conscious Fashion Initiative framework, featuring domestic and regional brands whose business operations align with the criteria on environmental and ethical values. The designers could apply by compiling a detailed questionnaire, in which they had to provide textual answers to questions related to a circular economy, ranging from alternative material solutions to packaging and storage to eco-certificates.

The Advisory Board selected one regional and four domestic designers for the category from the applications: from the Catwalk section, NANUSHKA and BORBALA; from the BCEFW Showcase category, MARKO FEHER (BA); and from the brands holding presentations, SLANGSLANG and PRINTA will display their collections to the audience, each reflecting the theme of consciousness in a variety of ways. 

BCEFW’s professional endeavours are further strengthened by the three-way collaboration with MOHU MOL Waste Management Zrt. and Millenáris, which includes the placement of a textile collection container, provided by MOHU, at this year’s event venue. The campaign aims to raise awareness of recycling practices and to encourage more sustainable operations and conscious thinking among the public attending the event. The container can be used by anyone on site for the duration of the event, from Friday to Sunday – clothes and household textile waste placed in the container will be recycled by MOHU and its subcontractors.